Why Kakashi Wears A Mask
by Goddess Hanyuu
Summary: It's one of the biggest mysteries in Konoha: why is Hatake Kakashi always wearing that mask? Naruto, Sakura and Sai set up a plan to make him talk. This is just my theory. Hope you like it.


_**Why Kakashi wears a mask**_

It has been one of the biggest mysteries in Konoha: why is Hatake Kakashi always wearing that mask? Everyone keeps asking each other, all with the same answer: "I don't know." Rumours were going all over the village. Was he ugly? Or was he so handsome, he wanted to hide his face, so that he wouldn't draw any attention? Did he think it was cool? Did he want to look more like a mysterious shinobi? Or is it all a game to him to leave the entire village with the same question?

All those questions; all those rumours… But did anyone ever ask Kakashi himself? Of course they did. But the smooth talker has always been able to avoid the question.

One needs to be careful with _how_ they ask the question. He will respond honestly if you directly ask him: "What's underneath your mask?". Everyone already knows the answer to that one: another mask.

But if you ask him: "Will you show me your face?", he can always talk himself out of it.

"Why do you want to see my face?" he'll ask.

"I just wanna see it," you'd answer.

"Why? What could be so special about it?" the response would be. "What merits will you get by seeing my face?"

"I'm just really curious about it," you'd stubbornly say.

He'd laugh and say: "Curiosity is not a sin.". Then he'd take off, leaving you with still no answer.

Figuring out the mystery about the man behind the mask would take more than anyone ever thought of. One needs to find the right way to ask the question. And it must be the right person to ask the question. Someone who's close to him.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura opens the door, finding Naruto having a weird look in his eyes. She knows that look.

"Ok, what is it now?" she asks annoyed.

"Nothing," Naruto says. "I was just wondering if you'd like to join me and Sai for a walk."

Sai is standing behind Naruto, smiling at Sakura.

"Oh… well, ok then," she says.

Sakura notices Naruto secretly staring at her, with a big smirk on his face.

"What?!" she asks frustrated. "What do you want?"

"What makes you think that—"

"What do you want, Naruto?" Sakura asks again. "I know you want me to do something for you, so just spit it out already."

"Well, Sai and I have been talking," Naruto starts, "and we both agreed that you might actually be the one who can get Kakashi-sensei to show his face?"

"M-me?!" Sakura asks. "Why me?!"

"Because he won't tell me," Naruto says. "He'd call me an idiot and smooth-talk his way out of it again, just like last time!"

"That's true," Sakura says. "But why would he tell _me_?"

"Because you're his friend, too," Naruto answers. "He won't tell Iruka-sensei, since he already tried… He won't tell Sai, because he doesn't know him that well. But we are his closest friends and I know he will take you seriously, Sakura-chan!"

"I think he'll avoid the question as well if I were to ask him," Sakura says.

"But you always know exactly what to say," Naruto says.

"He's right, you know," Sai says. "You even taught me what I can or can't say in some situations."

"Yeah, but…" Sakura sighs. "I don't know…"

"Will you try? Please?" Naruto begs.

Sakura relieves another sigh. "Alright, I'll try," she says. "But only because I wanna know, too."

"Yes! Sakura-chan, you're the best!" Naruto cheers.

In the evening, Sakura finds Kakashi at the memorial stone. She knew she'd find him here.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she asks. Kakashi turns around. "Sakura," he says. "What are you doing here?"

"Just… taking a walk," Sakura says. "Getting some relaxation and distraction."

"At this hour?" Kakashi asks.

"I don't see why not," Sakura says. "And you're out here too, in case you didn't notice," she adds with a smile.

"True," Kakashi says. "Mind if I join you?"

"Sure," Sakura says. She was hoping he'd say that.

They walk into an open field in the park.

"I always come here to think," Sakura says. At least that is not a lie.

"I know," Kakashi says. "I often see you lying in the grass here." He lays himself down in the grass. Sakura, a little surprised by this, follows his example and lies next to him. They're silent for a few minutes. They gaze at the stars.

"Do you think Sasuke-kun is looking at the same stars right now?" Sakura asks, finding herself a little silly about asking such a childish question.

"Maybe," is Kakashi's short answer. He looks at her. "Is that what's always going on in your mind when you lie here?" he asks.

"Most of the time, yes," Sakura admits.

Kakashi looks back up. "He will come home," he says.

Sakura smiles. "Yeah, I know. I don't know when he will, but I believe in him. I believe in Naruto."

"Naruto?" Kakashi asks without looking away from the stars.

"He promised me he'd get Sasuke-kun back," Sakura says. "And I believe that he can do it."

Kakashi smiles. "That's right," he says.

Another short silence.

"What are you always thinking about, sensei?" Sakura asks after a while.

"Hm?" Kakashi asks.

"When you look at the stars," Sakura explains. "What are you always thinking about?"

"Me?" Kakashi asks. He starts laughing.

Sakura looks at him. "What's so funny?" she asks.

"Ah, sorry," he says while still laughing a little. "It's just a little strange to hear such a question from my former student."

Sakura looks a little irritated. "I don't see what's funny about that," she says while looking back up again.

"Never mind," Kakashi says. "What I think about, eh? Well I think about a lot of things. About what to do about the rest of Akatsuki, about how we can protect the village from now on…" He stops talking when he sees Sakura making a worried face.

"But I also think about how much you and Naruto have grown," he says to comfort her. "How much you've both learned and how much you've changed. I should say I'm very proud as your ex-teacher."

Sakura looks at him. Even though she can't really see it, she knows he's smiling.

"Well, you haven't changed at all," she says. "You look exactly the same as you did three years ago, you still read those books from Jiraiya-sama, and you're still wearing that mask."

Kakashi hums a little.

"Why are you wearing the mask, anyway?" Sakura asks smoothly – at least, she thinks she does.

Kakashi sits up and looks at her.

"I was wondering when you were gonna ask me that," he says.

Sakura feels a little shiver going down her spine. How did he find out?

Acting nonchalantly, Sakura sits up and asks: "What are you talking about?"

"Let me guess," Kakashi says – he seems amused. "Naruto told you to ask me that, right?"

Another shiver is going down her spine. He completely read her mind!

"H-how… how did you know?" she asks, feeling awkward because her teacher just saw right through her.

"I know you guys," Kakashi answers. "You can't surprise me when it comes to stupid little things like this."

"That's not fair," Sakura says.

"Why else did you think I've come with you?" Kakashi asks, still obviously amused. "You think I really believed you just happened to walk past me at this hour? I knew right away you wanted to pull a trick on me."

Sakura is amazed by her former teacher. He completely figured out her plan.

"Then, just tell me," she tries again. "Why are you wearing a mask?"

"Why do you want to know that so badly?" Kakashi asks.

That's his old response again.

"Because," Sakura starts, "that's something we really don't know about you. And I feel sorry for that."

Kakashi looks at her in surprise.

"You see," Sakura continues, "you're not just our teacher… In the three years we know you, you've become our friend as well."

Kakashi's visible eye widens.

"And I'm sure Naruto thinks so, too," Sakura says. "But it's really frustrating that we don't know a simple thing like why you're wearing a mask… or even what your face looks like."

Kakashi is truly amazed by what his former student just said. He smiles.

"That's an interesting point of view," he admits. "Alright, if you really insist… Naruto, you can join us!" he adds.

"EH?!" he hears from the bushes. "You knew we were here?!"

"Yup," Kakashi says.

"I knew I shouldn't have taken you with me," Naruto says while standing up with Sai next to him. "It's all your fault he discovered us!"

"_My_ fault?" Sai asks. "I didn't make any sound at all."

"Like I said: it's because I know you," Kakashi says. "You followed us, didn't you?"

Naruto looks shocked. "Y-y-y-y-you knew all along?!" he asks in disbelief.

"I can't believe you're making such a big deal out of it in the first place," Kakashi says while Naruto and Sai join them. "You want to know it _that_ badly?"

Naruto and Sakura nod. Sai still has the same indifferent look on his face.

Kakashi sighs. "Alright then. But it's really not that big a deal," he says. Naruto and Sakura are all ears.

"Well then," Kakashi starts. "I guess you already know that I graduated from the Ninja Academy when I was six years old, right?"

"_That's Hatake Sakumo's son, right?"_

"_The White Fang's boy."_

"_He's still so young!"_

"_Yes, but his skills are amazing!"_

"_He's so cute!"_

_I always wondered how much longer I had to hear I was too young to be a ninja. People still treated me like a kid and couldn't take me seriously._

"_He's already a Genin?"_

"_But look at that cute little face! It would be such a waste if that face was harmed."_

"_I know! He's adorable, isn't he?"_

_I even tried to honestly tell them I didn't like them talking about me like that._

"_I'm not a kid. I'm a ninja now. My purpose is to protect the village. That's what I've trained for. So please, don't treat me like a little kid."_

_Of course, they wouldn't listen._

_One day, I became sick of it. I tried to figure out a way to make them stop saying I was cute and too young to be a Genin._

_Then I saw my mother sewing a new sweater. She loved sewing clothes for me. So I asked her to make the turtle neck of the sweater a little longer._

_The next day, I tried it on the sweater and pulled the extra long turtle neck over half of my face. And it worked. Well, not immediately, but after a while, people were actually starting to take me more seriously. All I had to do was keep my face covered and people wouldn't treat me like a kid anymore._

"And that's why I've worn a mask ever since," he says.

Naruto and Sakura stare at him in disbelief.

"_That's_ why you wear a mask?" Naruto repeats.

"But sensei, you're not a kid anymore," Sakura says. "So why are you still wearing it?"

"Because the whole village has been making a big deal out of it for years," Kakashi says. "If I remove it now, it'll draw the attention of the whole village and they won't treat me like a real shinobi anymore."

That makes sense to them... more or less.

"But…" Naruto says. "Will you show _us_ your face?"

"Why?" Kakashi asks.

"We already know you're a great ninja," Naruto says. "It's not that our opinions about you will change after you've showed us your face!"

"Naruto's right," Sakura says.

"And then what?" Kakashi asks. "Seeing my face is of what value?"

"Well, umm…" both Naruto and Sakura mumble.

"Let's just keep traditions traditions, ok?" Kakashi says with a smirk underneath the infamous mask. And with that, he waves and disappears, leaving his team members behind in confusion.

"Huh…? HEY!!" Naruto yells.

"Come on! That's not fair, sensei!" Sakura yells with him.

Sai just sits there, also wondering what they're making such a fuss about. They see hundreds of faces every day. What should be so special about one face they haven't seen yet, he wonders?

Ever since, Kakashi keeps his tradition.

So is it all a game to him? Well, regarding Naruto and Sakura, maybe it is.

Thank you so much for reading. I really hope you liked it.


End file.
